French President Emmanuel Macron described his meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York as "very constructive," saying the two leaders engaged in in-depth discussions on the wars in Ukraine and the situation in the Red Sea. The half-hour meeting, held as world leaders gathered for the annual General Debate, covered what Macron called conflicts "of obvious importance to global peace and security."
Macron said he urged Trump to accelerate and strengthen support for Ukraine, particularly in the form of air defence systems, arguing that such assistance is "defensive in nature." He said Trump was "very open" to the discussion. The French president had, according to a French official, gone into the meeting intending to speak frankly with his American counterpart and steer him "towards the right decisions" on Ukraine. Macron also separately met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, following which he pledged that France would stand by Ukraine through the winter, including by supplying additional radars and interceptor systems to strengthen Kyiv's air defences against Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
On the Red Sea — a critical shipping corridor whose disruptions have driven up global energy prices — the two presidents discussed how to better protect oil installations in the area. A diplomatic source indicated that France is prepared to contribute to securing Saudi energy infrastructure, a reflection of broader Western concerns about the economic knock-on effects of regional instability.
Meanwhile, the European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, speaking at a separate press conference in New York after a meeting of EU foreign ministers, reaffirmed that sanctions against Russia remain "at the core" of Europe's strategy to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. Discussions are ongoing within the bloc about extending measures targeting roughly 3,000 individuals and entities, even as some member states have pushed to delist specific names — including Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman — a deal that failed to materialise on Monday.
The diplomatic activity at the UN comes against a backdrop of continued fighting: Russia launched drone strikes on logistics hubs and port facilities in the Kyiv and Odesa regions, while Ukraine claimed attacks on Russian oil and industrial sites, including a Moscow refinery owned by Gazprom Neft that reportedly halted crude processing after a drone strike. The ongoing targeting of energy infrastructure has drawn repeated objections from the Trump administration, which has pressed Kyiv to stop attacking Russian oil refineries, citing the impact on global diesel prices.